The present invention pertains to apparatus and techniques for securing a device mounted through an aperture in a printed circuit board, wall panel or similar structure.
The attachment of a connector or other apparatus through an opening in a circuit board or wall panel requires an attachment mechanism such as a clip that should be economical to produce and simple to attach and remove without special tools. In addition, such an element should occupy as little space as possible to avoid interference with other devices in the environment of a densely populated board or a confined area such as amounting site in a wall panel which is recessed with closely adjacent wall surfaces. It would also be preferable that the retention clip not have a required orientation for assembly.
The prior art includes the use of two small C-shaped clips that are small and not intrusive; however, the very small size of the individual clips causes handling and orientation of the clips during assembly to be difficult. The individual clips are easily dropped and lost requiring that additional clips be available particularly when disassembled and reassembled.
The retainer clip of the present invention is formed of a single piece of planar material that is simple to assemble and disassemble and requires no special tools. Use of the clip does not require that it be in a specific orientation for proper installation. It can be assembled using either side and can be turned end for end and achieve the same resulting attachment of the cooperating device at an opening in a circuit board, enclosure wall or other environment. Using a common screwdriver, the clip may be assembled to simultaneously secure both ends of the device at the panel opening or release both ends of the device from retention by a single longitudinal motion of the clip. Although the clip is small in size, it surrounds the device portion that projects through the panel and is unlikely to drop or fall away from the assembly site if it is not positively grasped at anytime during assembly. The ability to avoid accidental loss of a clip is particularly important to a purchaser who may be maintaining, repairing or upgrading the associated apparatus and has no source of replacement parts available for such special applications.
Device attachment using the retainer clip which is shown and described, provides a low cost means for securing a device through a panel aperture that avoids the use of special tools and is not sensitive to clip orientation during assembly. The clip is non-intrusive, having no material projection beyond the footprint of the device being attached. Since the clip surrounds the clip portion projecting through the aperture it is less likely to fall away from the assembly site and become lost if not positively retained at all times during the assembly procedure. This is particularly important in the environment wherein the device is being secured to a vertical panel.